It's much harder to definitively pinpoint what the LA Chargers are going to do in the 2025 NFL Draft than it was a year ago. With the fifth pick, the Chargers had one of two ways they could have gone (offensive tackle Joe Alt or wide receiver Malik Nabers). With the 21st pick, the Chargers are dependent on what happens in the first 20 selections.
This has a ripple effect on the rest of the draft and makes it even tougher to proximate who the Chargers may draft in the second round. Despite the slew of mock drafts, the NFL Draft is always a crapshoot and the Chargers are a prime example of that in 2025.
That being said, history tends to repeat itself and there is some strong history that may reveal what the Chargers do in the second round. Chargers fans on Reddit have made an astute observation about the Baltimore Ravens' draft decisions that may foreshadow what the Bolts do.
Chargers GM Joe Hortiz was part of two different drafts in which Baltimore had the 55th overall pick, which the Bolts have in 2025. In both 2008 and 2020, the Ravens used the 55th overall pick on a running back.
Chargers will draft a running back at 55 if they follow in the Ravens' footsteps
Baltimore drafted Ray Rice with the 55th pick in 2008 and J.K. Dobbins with the 55th pick in 2020. Both of those selections are telling on how the Ravens valued the running back position in the NFL Draft.
Granted, there is no tangible difference between late second-round picks and the fact Baltimore selected Rice and Dobbins with the same pick was coincidental. It's not like the Ravens realized they took Rice with the 55th pick and then scrambled to repeat history by taking Dobbins.
However, it reveals that the Ravens valued running back enough to make a selection in the second round. That is not the case for every team, and certainly has not been the case for the Chargers. Los Angeles has not taken a running back in the first three rounds since drafting Melvin Gordon in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft.
There are parallels between how Hortiz runs the Chargers and how the Ravens operate. If there is a common throughline for Baltimore, it's relevant for the Bolts.
Hortiz is on the record in saying that he takes the best player available and in a loading running back class, there is a real chance the best player available at 55 is a running back. Ohio State's TreVeyon Henderson is by far the favorite among Chargers fans as he would create a Detroit Lions-like backfield alongside Najee Harris.
Even if it's not Henderson, there are plenty of talented running backs in this draft class who may intrigue the Chargers in the second round. With so many options and a history of Hortiz's teams taking a running back with the 55th pick, it may just be a matter of which running back the Chargers take.